I’m pretty sure I’ve told this story a number of times before, but I’m going to share it again just in case my memory is failing me (it certainly wouldn’t be the first time): Monster Lair was the game that prompted me to buy the TurboGrafx-16 CD attachment way back when. I’d never played–or even heard of–the arcade original, so that wasn’t what attracted me to this platformer-shooter hybrid. No, what attracted me to it was its bright, beautifully drawn graphics–especially its so-cute-they-could-make-you-puke enemies and bosses. There’s more to Monster Lair than fetching foes, though; there’s also a rockin’ Red Book soundtrack and a whole lotta challenging levels (14, to be exact). All that said, I wouldn’t buy this game expecting it to become your favorite PC Engine title, but I would expect it to be well worth whatever you pay for it (which, at this point, should be less than $20).

Here’s something I didn’t know about Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair before my copy of the game arrived a few days ago: In lieu of a traditional instructional manual, it comes with a 10-inch-by-14-inch piece of paper that’s been folded into a square.

The front side of said piece of paper is a poster:

The back side, on the other hand, contains all of the instructional stuff:

My recent purchase of Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair prompted me to recall my fondness for the art that graced the cover of the North American version of the game. (Honestly, it was one of the few pieces of TurboGrafx-16 box art that I liked.)

Here’s a scan of the game’s North American cover art, in case it’s been a while since you’ve seen it:

And here’s the Japanese version’s cover art:

I have to say, I think I prefer the art used for the North American release. Which one do you prefer?